METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DELIVERING AND LOADING BULK MATERIALONTO A DOCKED TRANSPORT VESSEL

摘要

A process especially suited for utilizing conventional dockside container loading facilities (21) for loading bulk materials such as scrap metal (12) into docked ships (26). A particularly novel step in the process of the invention comprises rotating and open-top container (16) in the ship's hold (30) to empty the contents of the containers (16) and permit recovery of the container (16) for subsequent reuse. A novel rotation apparatus (32) for accomplishing this rotating step comprises an elongated chassis (36) having a geared drive motor (40) at each end for rotating the container (16). In one embodiment of this apparatus a latching plate (42) is secured to a pair of lifting pins (54) on each end of the container (16). In a second embodiment, the apparatus utilizes a latching frame (74) that permits use of unmodified containers (16a).